|
The Baltic Germans ((ドイツ語:Deutsch-Balten), or ''Baltendeutsche'') were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. (Lithuania, now considered a Baltic state, followed a completely different historical path and some of its cities were home to a small German trading class, but never a German noble or ruling class.) The Baltic German population never made up more than 10% of the total.〔(Baltic states :: Gradual modernization )〕 They formed the social, commercial, political and cultural elite in that region for several centuries. Some of them also took high positions in the military and civilian life of the Russian Empire, particularly in Saint Petersburg. ==Overview== In 1881, there were approximately 46,700 Germans in Estonia (5.3% of the population).〔(Baltic Germans in Estonia ), Estonian Institute www.einst.ee〕 According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897, there were 120,191 Germans in Latvia, or 6.2% of the population.〔(Latvia – Population )〕 In the 12th and 13th centuries, Germans, both colonists (''see Ostsiedlung'') and crusaders, settled in the Baltic.〔Christiansen, Eric, ''The Northern Crusades – The Baltic and the Catholic Frontier 1100–1525, 1980, ISBN 0-333-26243-3〕 After the Livonian Crusades they quickly came to control all the administrations of government, politics, economics, education and culture of these areas for over 700 years until 1918, despite remaining a minority ethnic group. With the decline of Latin, German quickly became the language of all official documents, commerce and government business for hundreds of years until 1919. Whilst the vast majority of urban lands were colonised by traders, rural estates〔For examples, see List of palaces and manor houses in Latvia and List of palaces and manor houses in Estonia.〕 were soon formed by crusaders and their descendants. The area became under the sovereignty of the State of the Teutonic Order by the early 13th century, formally with the incorporation of the lands of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. The Teutonic Knights maintained formal control of the land until the middle 15th century, when a series of military defeats whittled away at the lands of the Teutonic Order. In 1525, after converting to Protestantism, the remaining German Baltic lands under control of the Teutonic Order became the Duchy of Prussia. The region became part of the Swedish Empire from the conquests of House of Vasa in the early 17th century forming the Baltic Dominions of Sweden. Sweden controlled the land until losing them to Russia in 1710 during the Great Northern War. The lands were part of the Russian Empire until 1917. Both Sweden and Russia guaranteed the continuation of Baltic Germans' special class privileges and administration rights when they incorporated the provinces into their respective empires. In contrast to the Baltic Germans, the ethnic majority of Estonians and Latvians had restricted rights and privileges and resided mostly in rural areas as serfs, tradesmen, or as servants in urban homes. This was in keeping with the social scheme of things in Imperial Russia, and lasted well into the 19th century, when emancipation from serfdom brought those inhabitants increased political rights and freedoms. The Baltic Germans' effective rule and class privileges came to the end with the demise of the Russian Empire (due to the Bolshevik revolution of October 1917) and the independence of Estonia and Latvia in 1918–1919. After 1919, many Baltic Germans felt obliged to depart for Germany, but some stayed as ordinary citizens in the newly formed independent countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.〔Hiden, John, ''The Baltic States and Weimar Ostpolitik'', Cambridge University Press, 1987, ISBN 0-521-32037-2〕 Their history and presence in the Baltics came to an abrupt end at the beginning of the Second World War, in late 1939, following the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the subsequent Nazi-Soviet population transfers. Almost all the Baltic Germans were resettled by the German Government under the Heim ins Reich program into the newly formed Reichsgaue Wartheland and Danzig-West Prussia (on the territory of occupied Poland). In 1945, most of them were expelled and resettled in the territory remaining to Germany under terms of the border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference, i.e. west of the Oder–Neisse line. The present-day descendants of the Baltic Germans can be found all over the world, with the largest groups being in Germany and Canada. Since their resettling from Estonia and Latvia during the upheavals and aftermath of the Second World War, Baltic Germans no longer exist as a distinct ethnic group. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Baltic Germans」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|